Moustache Selfies In Solidarity With Victims of Crimes Against Dalits

After two Dalit men were thrashed for sporting a moustache, in two separate events in Gujarat, Dalits have started a campaign on Facebook where they are posting pictures with their moustache to stand in solidarity with the victims. The two incidents took place at Limbodara village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar district. Lynching of a 21-year-old Dalit man for watching garba, led to this agitation.

The Dalit men who stood in solidarity with the victims used the hashtag #जातिवाद_मुर्दाबाद (down with religious discrimination) with their pictures. The first incident took place on September 25 when Piyush Parmar (24) was allegedly thrashed by men of the Rajput community for sporting a moustache when Parmar was returning after watching a garba programme. The police had registered a case under the Atrocity Act and arrested three persons from the Kshatriya community. “They asked us how we can sport a moustache, and then they started assaulting us,” said the complaint filed by Mr. Parmar.

In the other incident that took place on September 29, Krunal Maheria (30), a law student, said he was beaten up by Bharatsinh Vaghela on account of sporting a moustache.

Gujarat has seen a series of crimes committed against Dalits since the infamous Una attack where 4 Dalit men were flogged for skinning a cow. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRBA) data there has been a 66% rise in the crimes committed against Dalits all over India in the last 10 years.